No happy ever after for Emma Knightley?
After two months of unintentional online absence - I just couldn't think of anything to post! - here's another book-related blathering to plug a hole: why does Jane Austen's Emma get such a raw deal, both from readers and authors of 'Austenuations' (parallel novels/sequels)? Darcy and Lizzie are the focus of a whole sub-sub-genre of continuations, mostly containing scenes of a sexual nature, but in the handful of Emma spin-offs I have read, Mr and Mrs Knightley are doomed to either a platonic marriage of comfortable companionship, or stuck in a temporal loop whereby the events of Austen's original are repeated ad nauseum.
Frank Churchill often makes a reappearance, despite the fact that he marries Jane Fairfax and they move to Yorkshire, and - oh yes! - Emma didn't actually have any feelings deeper than fanciful flirtation for him in the first place. Poor Mr Knightley then ages tenfold and turns into a crotchety octogenarian who refuses to budge from his own hearth, thus boring Emma into an extramarital affair. He's in his late thirties, not on life support, and what of his decision to leave Donwell Abbey for Hartfield, merely to accommodate Emma's devotion to her father's selfish dependency? Or his frequent trips to London, and the honeymoon at the seaside to make Emma happy? Only Brenda Finn's continuation, Anna Weston, allows them a happy, loving union of compatible partnership that produces two children. Emma Tennant misreads Emma's character so far as to 'turn' Austen's heroine into a lesbian - no kidding! - and Rachel Billington regresses her into a bitter, mistrusting feminist.
Why the hate? And who do they hate - Emma, for being less perfect than Miss Bennet, or Mr Knightley, for trumping Darcy in the too-good-to-be-true stakes? If Emma is the object of such petty revenge, because of her snobbish attitude and interfering behaviour, then Tennant and Billington cannot have finished reading Austen's novel. She is young, naive and very lonely when she decides to 'upgrade' her new friend Harriet Smith - but she learns her lesson, and is rewarded with the love of her best friend, Mr Knightley. Why would a new wife continue to act in the same way as an only child, looking for 'projects' to pass her time and getting up to the same mischief? She wouldn't, unless adhering rigidly to the events of the original novel is the safest way to cash in on Austen's enduring reputation and popularity. Emma in love and happily married? Wouldn't a dalliance with Frank Churchill be more exciting? Let's recycle that old subterfuge instead! And if Knightley is the target, then judgement is based on selective recollection of the text, if any. Yes, he 'blamed her and lectured her', but with the benefit of experience and the motive of affection - Knightley saw what Emma could become, when she was manipulating Harriet, flirting with Frank and insulting Miss Bates (which I can't honestly blame her for), and was intimate and trusted enough to confront her with the truth. Emma also respects his opinion, and knows when she has done wrong, even if she will never openly admit her faults. So their marriage will not be an unbalanced match of young girl and old man, pupil and teacher, but firm friends who know each other better than they know themselves.
I think that's what draws me to the romance of Emma and her Mr Knightley, over star cross'd lovers Elizabeth and Darcy - the friendship and familiarity that is the basis of falling in love. What kind of life would Lizzie and Darcy have if the passion wears off - financially, socially, she is dependent on him. It's his big house and large wallet, his reputation and importance, after all. Lizzie only has her family, and even Jane's marriage to Charles Bingley only really came about through Darcy. Emma, on the other hand, is already mistress of her father's house, used to giving orders and receiving guests, and is worth £30, 000 of her own. Knightley has the land, but Emma has the wealth - it's a union of assets, property and parishes, as well as like minds and loving hearts. I envisage a more demonstrative continuation of the confident relationship they share in the novel - Knightley being honest with Emma, and Emma suiting herself. If she knows her husband is right, she will follow his instruction; if she disagrees with him, they will argue the point. In fact, the fighting will probably contribute the passion that so many Janeites imagine lacking between them - and then they will be equally passionate in making up ;)
Emma does not love Knightley for convenience or security. He is not her first love or last chance - she need not marry at all, and fully intended not to, before realising her true feelings for him. Pretty Frank Churchill was a passing distraction, a practice crush for a novice heart, but she read his flippant and self-serving nature correctly long before learning the truth about Jane Fairfax. Similarly, Mr Knightley has always loved Emma, but only his jealousy of Frank Churchill made him act - uncertainly, spontaneously - and ask her if he had any chance of succeeding. I think that a marriage based on trust and not lust is far more romantic and believable, and as to the age difference - Emma is 21, Knightley 37 - years are not as great an impediment as personalities. There is some level of inequality in all Austen's romances, but Emma and Knightley are better matched than most. She is the one tied to Highbury by her father, so once the old goat is finally carried off (and buried under a stone reading 'I told you I was ill'), Mr and Mrs Knightley can move to Donwell Abbey and live happily ever after. I wish them well.
Oh, and for any fellow fans of Emma and Mr Knightley, I can recommend the following 'Austenuations' that are not at all bitter and twisted:
Anna Weston by Brenda Finn
Charity Envieth Not: Book One by Barbara Cornthwaite (a 'companion' to Emma from Mr Knightley's point of view)
The Intrigue at Highbury by Carrie Bebris (part of a series of mystery novels featuring Mr and Mrs Darcy)
And the 2009 BBC adaptation is an absolute must!